Arapahoe High gunman planned much larger attack

Arapahoe High School gunman Karl Pierson scrawled messages on his arms pointing to five areas of the Centennial, Colo., school he planned to attack, the county sheriff said Tuesday.

Also written on his forearm in permanent marker was the Latin phrase “Alea iacta est,” which means in English “The die has been cast.”

The letters and numbers on his arm correlated with specific classrooms located near the school’s library, where authorities have said Pierson planned to target librarian and debate coach Tracy Murphy.

The sheriff released the new details but said it still appears that Pierson, 18, acted alone.

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“The letters/numbers written on the shooter’s arm is an indicator to investigators of the shooter’s plan,” Sheriff Grayson Robinson wrote in a news release, adding that investigators will try to determine the relevance of the list “while closely evaluating if the occupants of those classrooms may have also been targeted for harm by the shooter.”

Pierson came to the school armed with a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun he bought legally at a sporting goods store as well as three Molotov cocktails, and a machete concealed in a canvas scabbard. Strapped to his chest and waist were two bandoliers containing some of the 125 rounds of assorted ammunition, a mix of steel-shot, buckshot and slugs, Robinson said.

Robinson also announced that the FBI has joined in the investigation of the shooting. The sheriff described the investigation as ongoing and methodical.